Individual steak & kidney pies

1 onion
100g chestnut mushrooms
225g ox kidney
450g lean braising or stewing steak
1 x 15ml sunflower oil
1 x 15ml plain flour
450ml boiling water and 1 beef stock cube
OR 450ml good beef stock
1 sachet bouquet garni
200ml stout or brown ale
Freshly milled black pepper
500g ready-made shortcrust pastry
1 egg

Chopping board, vegetable knife, red chopping board, large casserole dish with a lid, measuring spoons, wooden spoon, kettle, measuring jug, small saucepan, 4 x 300ml individual pie dishes, spoon, flour dredger, rolling pin, fork, pastry brush.

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5 or 190°C.
2. Peel and slice the onion.
3. Wash the mushrooms and quarter.
4. Using a red board, core the kidneys and cut into small chunks.
5. Again using a red board, cut the steak into 2.5cm cubes. Wash and dry hands thoroughly after touching the raw meat.
6. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish and cook the beef for 3-4 minutes until brown.
7. Add the onion and mushrooms to the casserole dish and cook for 4-5 minutes until coloured.
8. Add the chopped kidneys and cook for 1-2 minutes.
9. Sprinkle over the flour.
10. Boil a kettle and make the stock in a measuring jug or heat the fresh stock in a small saucepan.
11. Add the hot stock, bouquet garni, stout and fresh black pepper to the casserole dish.
12. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook for 2 hours until the meat is tender.
13. Remove the bouquet garni and spoon the mixture into 4 x 300ml individual pie dishes.
14. Flour the work surface and roll out the pastry and cut out four lids 1cm larger than the surface of each dish.
15. Dampen the edges of each dish with a little water and place the pastry lid on top of the meat filling.
16. Trim off any excess pastry and lightly press the edges to seal.
17. Crack the egg into a measuring jug and lightly whisk with a fork.
18. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is golden.

• Serve with fat chips and seasonal vegetables or a crisp salad.
• Alternatively, to reduce the fat and saturated fat content of the dish, use a light pastry and serve with boiled new potatoes instead of chips.
• Use a reduced salt stock cube to lower the salt content of the recipe.

Why not use the Explore Food calculator, the British Nutrition Foundation's free online nutritional analysis programme, to calculate the nutritional information for this and other Food - a fact of life recipes?